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architecture and design magazineTue, 03 Mar 2015 18:51:02 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1New immigration rules are "hugely damaging" for design in Londonhttp://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/03/new-immigration-rules-are-hugely-damaging-for-design-in-london/
http://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/03/new-immigration-rules-are-hugely-damaging-for-design-in-london/#commentsThu, 03 Oct 2013 18:19:18 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=367430News: leading figures from London's design institutions have warned that new immigration rules which make it harder for international students to stay in the UK after graduation could be a "disaster" for the city. Kieran Long, senior curator at the V&A museum, described London as "a crossroads for great creative people to come and learn […]

News: leading figures from London's design institutions have warned that new immigration rules which make it harder for international students to stay in the UK after graduation could be a "disaster" for the city.

Kieran Long, senior curator at the V&A museum, described London as "a crossroads for great creative people to come and learn from their peers," but warned: "Anything that stops that would be a disaster."

Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic said: "London has really based its success on having 150 years of great art schools. They have been somewhat industrialised, got too big, and the government has also got quite curious about allowing students to stay once they've graduated. We need to be an open city, that's what London always been."

The new rules also introduce the power to refuse an application for a student visa extension where the applicant cannot speak English.

We want to retain the best talent and the new visa restrictions are not conducive to thatMax Fraser

"It would be a disaster for London," agreed Nigel Coates, professor emeritus at the Royal College of Art. "For creative people, London is the most attractive city in the world, partly because of its schools. But the government, confused as always, seems to be shooting itself - and us - in the foot."

"It's making it very, very difficult for AA students," said Sadie Morgan, president of the Architectural Association school. "They give huge amounts to the UK economy. It's a really big issue. It's damaging and short-sighted of the UK government. They're looking to be doing something aggressive about immigration but it is hugely damaging for schools like ours."

Architectural firms can apply for visas on behalf of overseas graduates they want to employ, but Morgan said it was a "convoluted and expensive" process.

Sudjic added: "London is a remarkably successful place at attracting really smart, gifted young designers. They come to study here and lots of them build a practice here, not necessarily based on clients here, but on clients all around the world. London is a great place to be but it can't be complacent and one of the things it has to do is go on attracting smart and new people and get them to stay."

"London is welcoming, enterprising and full of opportunities", said Max Fraser, deputy director of the London Design Festival. "It's multiculturalism is one of its great selling points. We want to retain the best talent and the new visa restrictions are not conducive to that."

London has some of the greatest design and architecture schools in the worldKieran Long

London mayor Boris Johnson is understood to share the institutions' concerns and convened a meeting with leading London arts schools this summer to discuss the issue. However, the mayor has no influence over national immigration policy. The UK's Conservative government introduced the rules to appease backbench MPs, who demanded a tougher stance on immigration.

Dezeen spoke to leading figures in the design world during the London Design Festival last month to get their views on London's position as a centre for design and the reasons for its current strength as a creative hub. The pre-eminence of London's arts schools and its openness to immigration were the most-cited reason for the city's standing as one of the world's leading international centres for design.

"I think London has always been a place thats incredibly tolerant of new things, of people arriving in the city," said Kieran Long. "We know that the city is based on immigration, and the people that are already here tolerating them and we're really comfortable with that. In terms of design and architecture, we have some of the greatest schools in the world, a lot of people come to study here."

He added: "I think there are threats to that, certainly we should keep London as open as it possibly can be and any political agenda that's about closing that down somehow, to me, is anathema to what London really is."

Sudjic said: "London is a great place to be but it can't be complacent and one of the things it has to do is go on attracting smart and new people and get them to stay."

The city must go on attracting smart and new people, and getting them to stayDeyan Sudjic

Alex de Rijke, dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, added that funding cuts and the rising reputation of schools abroad presented new threats to London. "Inevitably you produce a lot of architects that stay for a while then go and forge a career, whereas perhaps in the future that will not be the case as emerging economies all over the world will inevitably take over cultural production. So I see, not necessarily a lessening in the influence of education here, but certainly more of a diaspora of talent."

"As other universities around the world offer amazing opportunities for the global student population, it's increasingly difficult to be able to offer added value," agreed Morgan. "The added value is being able to stay and work in the UK because of the huge kudos you get from working for UK practices."

In an interview with Dezeen during the festival Patrizia Moroso, creative director of leading Italian furniture brand Moroso, praised London's openness to students from overseas and contrasted it with the situation in Italy, where she says underinvestment in schools is leading to the collapse of its creative industries.

"The schools [in Italy] are collapsing," she said. "When I see our universities and design schools, they are not the best in the world, they are not so important unfortunately. If you don't give importance to learning, not immediately but in ten years you lose a generation of material culture."

Last month the mayor of London proposed a new "London visa" to allow exceptional creative talents to bypass the lengthy new visa application system to set up businesses in London. He told the Financial Times (£): "It is a clear message to the elite of Silicon Valley or the fashionistas of Beijing that London is the place they should come to develop ideas, build new businesses and be part of an epicentre for global talent."

"St Paul's was an interesting site but it was very constricted, the project was difficult to realise there whereas this space is much more open," de Rijke. "This seemed like the best possible place to put it."

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/13/endless-stair-by-drmm/feed/4UK should "learn from the Netherlands" and build floating housing - Alex de Rijkehttp://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/30/were-advocating-other-uk-architects-to-design-on-water-says-alex-de-rijke/
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/30/were-advocating-other-uk-architects-to-design-on-water-says-alex-de-rijke/#commentsThu, 30 Aug 2012 07:00:12 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=241032Dezeen Wire: "we're advocating other UK architects to design on water," architect Alex de Rijke told Dezeen at the Venice Architecture Biennale this week, where his firm dRMM are exhibiting proposals for floating housing at the British Pavilion. Above: photograph is by Cristiano Corte "Our idea was to learn from the Netherlands and show how their ideas […]

Dezeen Wire: "we're advocating other UK architects to design on water," architect Alex de Rijke told Dezeen at the Venice Architecture Biennale this week, where his firm dRMM are exhibiting proposals for floating housing at the British Pavilion.

"Our idea was to learn from the Netherlands and show how their ideas might be applicable to UK waterways," he said. "There is no shortage of water in the UK and no shortage of rain, but there is a shortage of housing and a shortage of development sites."

Above: Water-houses in IJburg, Waterbuurt West, Amsterdam

The studio's proposals are for an infrastructure of houseboats at London's Royal Docks, and for the exhibition they present a floating terrace with an outboard engine and plastic floats.

Above, left to right: Alex de Rijke, Merlin Eayrs and Isabel Pietri of dRMM, photographed by Valerie Bennett

Named The Dutch Way, the project is one of ten on show for the British Pavilion's Venice Takeaway exhibition, which showcases ideas for British architecture brought back from other countries around the world by teams of 'explorers'. Read the brief in our earlier story.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/30/were-advocating-other-uk-architects-to-design-on-water-says-alex-de-rijke/feed/1Movie: tour of Architecture at Show RCA 2012 with Alex de Rijkehttp://www.dezeen.com/2012/06/27/movie-tour-of-architecture-at-show-rca-2012-with-alex-de-rijke/
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/06/27/movie-tour-of-architecture-at-show-rca-2012-with-alex-de-rijke/#commentsWed, 27 Jun 2012 16:23:46 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=222291Movie: the final tour we filmed at this year's Royal College of Art graduate show features projects from the Architecture course including a high-rise hotel growing tropical fruit and an insect-powered office tower. Above: Data Harvest by Christopher Green Professor of Architecture Alex de Rijke introduces the course and presents student Louis Hall's investigation into the […]

]]>Movie: the final tour we filmed at this year's Royal College of Art graduate show features projects from the Architecture course including a high-rise hotel growing tropical fruit and an insect-powered office tower.

Professor of Architecture Alex de Rijke introduces the course and presents student Louis Hall's investigation into the way cities develop around motorway infrastructure and the effects major corporations might have on the built environment.